Parking

Proposition L was nixed by San Francisco voters yesterday. With nearly all of the votes counted, 62 percent rejected Sean Parker's measure to keep SF in the 20th century by prioritizing free parking and encouraging driving.

Voters returning from the polls today have pointed out the painfully vague ballot language used to describe Proposition L, the advisory measure to enshrine free parking and more driving as high priority in city policy.

Any doubts that most of San Francisco's public space is consumed by private automobiles, whether moving or stored, could probably be put to rest with a quick glance at the city's car-dominated streets. But a new study pulls together some eye-opening numbers about just how unbalanced SF's priorities have been in allocating street space, prioritizing cars over people, and in charging drivers little relative to the costs they incur.

With only a few days left until the election, four elected officials have yet to take a stance on Proposition L, the Republican-crafted measure that misleadingly urges San Francisco to "restore transportation balance" by giving priority to private automobiles and free parking.

We may never know why Sean Parker decided to pour tens of thousands of dollars into Proposition L, a measure crafted and funded by Republicans who want to enshrine 20th-century car-centric policies in San Francisco. With his contribution, Parker decided to amplify this "primal scream from motorists," as the Bay Guardian put it.

The first in a new wave of on-street car-share parking spaces are on the ground, kicking off the eventual roll-out of 900 spots planned by the SFMTA.

One year after community planning meetings began, plans finally appear to be moving forward for removing the 51 parking spaces in the middle of a walking and biking path along the Marina -- the only stretch of the 500-mile Bay Trail with cars on it. But Marina boat owners aren't giving up, and car-free path supporters need to turn out to a community meeting next Tuesday to ensure progress on this no-brainer plan.

Zoning laws in California usually require new developments to come with a minimum number of parking spaces. Housing, restaurants, stores, movie theaters — everything requires some number of parking spaces, theoretically based on the best available data.

If the tow trucks stowed in the Fell Street bike lane weren't enough a blatantly dangerous abuse of space for people on bikes, the situation on its Oak Street counterpart can be even more egregious. Patrick Traughber recently tweeted the above photo of five vehicles parked in Oak's curbside, buffered bike lane, squeezing bike commuters alongside passing motor traffic in the door zone.